Competition Recap

Saint Thomas Academy Narrowly Defeats Zion Benton NJROTC

Eighth seed Saint Thomas Academy upsets top seed Zion Benton NJROTC 1097 to 1079 last week in the National Air Rifle League Championship Tournament. Saint Thomas Academy improved their overall record to 8 - 0. Saint Thomas Academy was led by Seth Olson who shot a 281. The remaining contributing members were Kaleb Rutgers, Jack Kotok, Riley Miller, and John Copeland. Saint Thomas Academy is from Mendota Heights, MN, and is coached by Paul Preblich.

Saint Thomas Academy advances this week to the semi-final round to take on eighth seed Ozark AJROTC from Ozark, MO. This will be the first meeting between these two teams.

Zion Benton NJROTC was led by BAILEY HOENIG who shot a 277. The remaining contributing members were COLE RICE, JEREMY ANGEL, REGINA RAQUINO, and DIANA ROMAN. Zion Benton NJROTC is from Zion, IL, and is coached by Dan Hackstein.

Zion Benton NJROTC finishes the season with a 7 - 1 record, which includes winning the Navy JROTC Champions Division. This was their third straight year winning their division in the regular season.

The post-season Championship Tournament is for the top eight teams in the National Air Rifle Sporter League. Sponsored by the Orion Scoring System, the league is a national team league for high school teams and junior rifle clubs. The league has two parts. An 8 week round-robin regular season that concluded in November. Followed by a single-elimination tournament, going on now, for the top eight teams who will compete for the league championship.

In each game the teams compete in what is known as a Three-Position Air Rifle match. The match is modeled after Olympic Rifle competitions but adapted to high school age athletes. Each athlete will shoots 10 shots in three different shooting positions, prone, standing, and kneeling. Each shot is worth a maximum of 10 points. The sum of points scored in the 30 shots is the athlete's total. The team score is comprised of the best four athletes from each team.